In a Heartbeat- The Sum of All Fears
Chapter One-Well, Things Sure is Different
***
It's funny. Someone's apart of your life for so long that you almost begin to take her for granted.
Kindergarten and fighting over the same boy, 1st-5th grades filled with dolls and toys. Then middle school where everything began to change. Dolls were replaced with boys. Those were the years when Caitie turned "Goth" and Val joined the cheerleading squad and wrote "Cries of Pain". Then high school started. But, high school would never end for Caitie. She was gone. Just like that all 16 years of Caitie's short life wiped out. All her fears and doubts, hopes and dreams taken away by a boy with a gun.
How she had taken it all for granted. No more late night phone call to talk about nothing in particular, trips to the movies.... it was all gone. And Val could feel nothing but hate and bitterness.
* *
What do you say to you're best friend when his brother is a murderer? The question played over and over in Brooke's mind, she felt torn. A part of her wanted to be there for Val but she also wanted to be there for Nick too. Which is why she found her self standing outside his house when inside she wanted to run away screaming.
"Hey" she said.
He opened the door and stepped outside. "Hi" Nick looked terrible, as if he had been crying.
"Can I come in?"
he looked startled, "Oh, yeah, sure." His eyes darted past her.
"Those newspaper reporters won't leave. I don't know what kind of story they can get by standing in front of our house."
He drifted away again back to his own thoughts. "Nick?" she questioned.
"What?" Sorry come in."
She walked in the house with mixed feelings. Inside the mood was somber, the same feeling that engulfed her house. She remembered life before all this, fleeting moments.. Had it even been real? It had just been a week ago when she had been here last. Brooke had stayed over for dinner, and she had sat with them at the table, even Nick's brother had been there. How come she hadn't seen it? A hint, a spark something to let her know that the very next day Nick's brother had been planning to kill. It didn't seem right. They were just kids. This was just Kingsport, things that that never happened here. But, it had. However, she couldn't get worked up. Emotions were like her work at the station. They were filed away.
"Hi Brooke. Thanks for coming. We were just about to go to the church". Nick's father, Mr. Cooper spoke with tears in his eyes.
"Hi," she said back simply.
They stood one by one by Nick's brother's lonely grave. No one had come; it was just his parents, Brooke and Nick. Everyone was still angry, too shocked to care.
*
"Val honey, you have to get up." Her mother urged. Val opened her eyes; her mother was wearing a long black dress that showed off her thin frame.
"Oh, is today the funeral?" she asked simply, monotone
"You know that it is."
"I'm not going."
"You'll regret it if you don't. Please get out of bed." Mrs. Lanier said pulling the covers down
"Mom I can't okay?" she pulled them back up.
"Val, Caitie is dead-"
Val held her hand up, she didn't want to hear it, she just wanted to forget.
"Fine, I can't make you go. But please tell Brooke to meet us there when she gets home."
"Why, where is she?"
"John Cooper's funeral."
"What! How could she after what ... he did."
"Nick's her friend Val, just like Caitie was yours."
IS! She wanted to scream. She couldn't say good-bye, didn't want to.
"Well, he shouldn't be." She said knowing that she sounded childish. But she didn't care, she would never for give Brooke, it was that monster's fault that all this had happened.
*
Hank sighed. Everything was different. His parents never let him out of their sight. He also couldn't get the POP! sound out of his head. At night he dreamed about it and who was he kidding, he thought about it in the daytime too. He couldn't understand how this could have happened. The fear; the terror as he had run out of the building. Watching Tom Johansson die right in front of him, from a bullet that should have been for him, it was always with him what he always though about.
So he did what he did best. Put on a fake smile and tried to help the people around him. He went back to the squad weeks earlier than Alex had recommended, even tried (but failed, since he was not family) to see Jamie and Tyler. Hank kept telling himself that it has only been a week and all the fears and doubts would soon go away. He smiled to himself remembering the fun Jamie, Tyler and he had had before the shooting, joking around and making fun of Tyler and Val. He hated John Cooper in that instance for taking away his youth, his innocence, and his school. He knew that he would never feel safe again; not like he once did anyway. Everything had changed.
Chapter One-Well, Things Sure is Different
***
It's funny. Someone's apart of your life for so long that you almost begin to take her for granted.
Kindergarten and fighting over the same boy, 1st-5th grades filled with dolls and toys. Then middle school where everything began to change. Dolls were replaced with boys. Those were the years when Caitie turned "Goth" and Val joined the cheerleading squad and wrote "Cries of Pain". Then high school started. But, high school would never end for Caitie. She was gone. Just like that all 16 years of Caitie's short life wiped out. All her fears and doubts, hopes and dreams taken away by a boy with a gun.
How she had taken it all for granted. No more late night phone call to talk about nothing in particular, trips to the movies.... it was all gone. And Val could feel nothing but hate and bitterness.
* *
What do you say to you're best friend when his brother is a murderer? The question played over and over in Brooke's mind, she felt torn. A part of her wanted to be there for Val but she also wanted to be there for Nick too. Which is why she found her self standing outside his house when inside she wanted to run away screaming.
"Hey" she said.
He opened the door and stepped outside. "Hi" Nick looked terrible, as if he had been crying.
"Can I come in?"
he looked startled, "Oh, yeah, sure." His eyes darted past her.
"Those newspaper reporters won't leave. I don't know what kind of story they can get by standing in front of our house."
He drifted away again back to his own thoughts. "Nick?" she questioned.
"What?" Sorry come in."
She walked in the house with mixed feelings. Inside the mood was somber, the same feeling that engulfed her house. She remembered life before all this, fleeting moments.. Had it even been real? It had just been a week ago when she had been here last. Brooke had stayed over for dinner, and she had sat with them at the table, even Nick's brother had been there. How come she hadn't seen it? A hint, a spark something to let her know that the very next day Nick's brother had been planning to kill. It didn't seem right. They were just kids. This was just Kingsport, things that that never happened here. But, it had. However, she couldn't get worked up. Emotions were like her work at the station. They were filed away.
"Hi Brooke. Thanks for coming. We were just about to go to the church". Nick's father, Mr. Cooper spoke with tears in his eyes.
"Hi," she said back simply.
They stood one by one by Nick's brother's lonely grave. No one had come; it was just his parents, Brooke and Nick. Everyone was still angry, too shocked to care.
*
"Val honey, you have to get up." Her mother urged. Val opened her eyes; her mother was wearing a long black dress that showed off her thin frame.
"Oh, is today the funeral?" she asked simply, monotone
"You know that it is."
"I'm not going."
"You'll regret it if you don't. Please get out of bed." Mrs. Lanier said pulling the covers down
"Mom I can't okay?" she pulled them back up.
"Val, Caitie is dead-"
Val held her hand up, she didn't want to hear it, she just wanted to forget.
"Fine, I can't make you go. But please tell Brooke to meet us there when she gets home."
"Why, where is she?"
"John Cooper's funeral."
"What! How could she after what ... he did."
"Nick's her friend Val, just like Caitie was yours."
IS! She wanted to scream. She couldn't say good-bye, didn't want to.
"Well, he shouldn't be." She said knowing that she sounded childish. But she didn't care, she would never for give Brooke, it was that monster's fault that all this had happened.
*
Hank sighed. Everything was different. His parents never let him out of their sight. He also couldn't get the POP! sound out of his head. At night he dreamed about it and who was he kidding, he thought about it in the daytime too. He couldn't understand how this could have happened. The fear; the terror as he had run out of the building. Watching Tom Johansson die right in front of him, from a bullet that should have been for him, it was always with him what he always though about.
So he did what he did best. Put on a fake smile and tried to help the people around him. He went back to the squad weeks earlier than Alex had recommended, even tried (but failed, since he was not family) to see Jamie and Tyler. Hank kept telling himself that it has only been a week and all the fears and doubts would soon go away. He smiled to himself remembering the fun Jamie, Tyler and he had had before the shooting, joking around and making fun of Tyler and Val. He hated John Cooper in that instance for taking away his youth, his innocence, and his school. He knew that he would never feel safe again; not like he once did anyway. Everything had changed.